by Ross K. Baker , USA TODAY

by Ross K. Baker , USA TODAY

The New Year usually unfolds with nothing more dramatic than resolutions that we rarely keep. But this turn of the calendar was different. Suddenly, after years of Washington gridlock, the scent of bipartisanship seems to fill the air.

The end of 2012 featured an agreement fashioned by a Democratic Vice President Biden and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell for dealing with the tax portion of the dreaded "fiscal cliff."

That accord alone would not have done much to relieve the gloom of partisan polarization had McConnell and Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid not doubled down on bipartisanship by agreeing to reform some of the more outrageous rules for Senate filibusters.

Then last week, those two acts were topped by a proposal assembled by a group of senators - four Democrats and four Republicans - for comprehensive reform of federal immigration laws. Even President Obama praised the group for its willingness to "tackle the problem together." The proposals, among other things, would create a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented residents of the U.S.

An end to gridlock?

Time to celebrate the thaw in icy relations? Before we break out the champagne and toast the demise of polarization and its evil cousin, deadlock, ponder the fact that many more serious differences await Congress.

It is probably too much to ask that the abortion question could be resolved in a way that satisfies both sides or that, despite the aftermath of the atrocity in Newton, Conn., the vice president and the National Rifle Association could come to a mutually acceptable gun-control policy. Even the plausible fallback position of universal background checks is, at best, a 50-50 proposition.

What about entitlements?

Then toss in the oft-recognized need to cut the cost of benefits, considered fiscal hemorrhages to Republicans and sacred stigmata to the Democrats. Back when there was talk of a "grand bargain" between the president and congressional Republicans, a number of possible compromises were floated on entitlements, but more recently both sides have assumed their typical entrenched positions, especially on Medicare.

So how do we explain the promising signs? They were largely a product of a realization by Republicans that, in the wake of the last election, the agenda would be set by the White House.

The president's inauguration speech, heavy with the suggestion of "no more Mr. Nice Guy," could have rattled the GOP. But it is more likely that the shellacking Republicans took from Hispanic voters was a game-changer on immigration policy. GOP hearts might not have changed, but some minds certainly were.

It is also important to remember that there is a Republican base out there that will not tolerate for very long opportunistic course-correction by a party that leaves them stranded. If the party's solid base among white voters concludes that their leaders are forsaking them for support among Latinos, they will retaliate - not by defecting to the Democrats - but by staying home on Election Day, which has pretty much the same effect.

The occasional truces are a reassuring break from the entrenched antagonism of recent years, but let's not get carried away.

Ross K. Baker is a political science professor at Rutgers University and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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